1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



197 



Death of Frank Benton 



THE name of Frank Benton may 

 not awaken any recollections in 

 the minds of beekeepers who 

 have been less than 20 years in the 

 business. Mr. Benton, however, was 

 one of the most active beekeepers of 

 the last 25 years of the Nineteenth 

 Century. 



From 1880 to 1885 he traveled, first 

 with D. A. Tones, of Canada, after- 

 wards alone with his wife, in 

 Cyprus, in Syria, in India, in Ceylon. 

 Java. Bavaria and Carniola, investi- 

 gating the different races of bees and 

 shipping them to America. 



Later, as assistant entomologist, in 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 he published a number of bulletins 

 on bees, among the number a book of 

 118 pages, entitled "The Honey Bee," 

 (1899). He was sent for a trip around 

 the world by the same department, 

 to search for the different races of 

 bees. But for some unknown reason 

 he never made a report. Altogether, 

 he spent 12 years abroad. 



Mr. Benton was a very capable bee- 

 keeper and of very extensive knowl- 

 edge. He was born July 5, 1852, in 

 Coldwater, Mich. His education was 

 obtained in the public school of that 

 city and in the Michigan Agricultural 

 College. He taught for a few years 

 in rural schools and in the University 

 of East Tennessee, but soon aban- 

 doned this work for beekeeping. 



He wrote many articles on bees for 

 different publications and was the in- 

 ventor of the mailing cage known as 

 the "Benton cage." He was a lin- 

 guist, speaking fluently several lan- 

 guages. 



Searching for the big bees of India. 

 Apis Dorsata, he contracted jungle 

 fever, which was the beginning of 

 years of ill-health for him and caused 

 his retirement from active labor, but 

 not from continued interest in api- 

 culture. He sought some betterment 

 of his condition in the warm climate 

 of Florida. Death occurred at Fort 

 Myers. February 28. There are left 

 to mourn his loss one daughter. Mrs. 

 C. C. Ford, of LaGrange, 111., and her 

 three little daughters; one son, 

 Ralph Benton, of Los Angeles, Calif., 

 and three sisters, Mrs. Charles X. 

 Legg, of Coldwater, Mich., Miss Eliza 

 Benton, Barre, Yt., and Mrs. George 

 \Y. Martin, of Laporte, Texas. 



Co-operation in Experiments 



IT has often occurred to me that 

 tin- editor of a bee journal, like 

 the editor of a chess magazine, 

 avails himself of the activities of his 

 subscribers in making tests and ex- 

 periments for the good of the cause. 

 For instance, certain chess players 

 will be furnished with certain "tasks." 

 as these are termed; that is. they will 

 be asked to construct, say a chess 

 problem, in which a checkmate is 

 brought about by certain specified 

 pieces in a specified number of moves 

 and by means of a certain specified 

 procedure; in this way, the chess 

 playing public secures the result of 

 the combined effort of the best anal- 

 ysis. Similarily, in your department, 

 why not assign to certain beekeepers 



certain tests and experiments which 

 they will be required to work out and 

 report upon; the greater number ap- 

 plying themselves to one problem, 

 the greater would be the certainty 

 of the ultimate analysis. Of course, 

 the only reward would be the usual 

 one of the scientist, but the greatest 

 of all rewards, a sense of having fur- 

 ther unravelled <the mysteries of na- 

 ture. 



For myself I have the following 

 task, having regard to what Dr. C. C. 

 Miller says on page 183 of his "Fifty 

 Years," namely: — a comparative test 

 to ascertain whether a new queen 

 every season will result in greater 

 productivity as against queens of two 

 or more years' standing. This ex- 



periment, in order to be reasonably 

 sure of hitting the mark, will take 

 several years, and, in the interim, I 

 shall have plenty of time for other 

 tasks, and, in order to start my sug- 

 gestion going, I shall be pleased to 

 experiment upon any task which you, 

 in your investigations, may think de- 

 sirable of having data upon. I pro- 

 pose making an observation hive, and 

 have written "Gleanings" for instruc- 

 tions as to the construction of the 

 Miller observation hive. 



C. F. DAVIE. 



Victoria, B. C. 



(Let us have suggestions as to 

 what lines of experiment can be fol- 

 lowed by a number of beekeepers at 

 the same time with profit.) — Ed. • 



BEEKEEPERS BY THE WAY 



A Gentleman From Texas 



THERE are two things that E. G. 

 LeStourgeon, of San Antonio, 

 never overlooks — an opportunity 

 to boost, first our beloved pursuit of 

 beekeeping, and second, his native 

 State of Texas. If you don't like 



never be guilty of betraying 

 the fact to LeStourgeon. He is pre- 

 pared to prove beyond a shadow of a 

 doubt that it is the biggest and the 

 best State in the Union ; that it has 

 more sunshine and greater opportuni- 

 ties and finer climate than any other 

 place in the world. Likewise, he 

 knows full well that beekeepers are 

 the finest class of people, and that 

 beekeeping is the most fascinating 

 pursuit ever developed. 

 When Roosevelt was organizing his 



famous Rough Riders, LeStourgeon 

 was a frail youngster who stood little 

 chance of getting into the army. 

 However, he could ride, and when an 

 outlaw pony threw some of the ambi- 

 tious boys who were anxious to go 

 with the outfit, LeStourgeon volun- 

 teered to ride the pony, and did so. 

 This attracted Roosevelt's admiration 

 and he invited our friend to join his 

 organization. The surgeons, how- 

 ever, decided that he was a better 

 subject for a hospital than for the 

 army, and told him so. What .Roose- 

 velt said to the surgeons is not re- 

 corded, but it i; said that they quick- 

 ly changed their minds as to the fit- 

 ness of the new applicant, and he 

 went to Cuba with the Rough Riders. 

 On his return, at the close of the 

 Spanish-American war, he toured the 

 State of New York with Roosevelt 

 during his famous campaign for 

 Governor. The friendship that start- 

 ed when the outlaw pony brought the 

 desired opportunity to get into the 

 service, lasted till the death of the 

 famous President. 



Later LeStourgeon became a trav- 

 eling salesman and toured the north- 

 ern States. When in St. Louis or Ce- 

 dar Rapids, LeStourgeon heard of the 

 fame of Texas honey, lie decided that 

 he was overlooking something, so 

 threw up his job and went home to 

 go into beekeeping. Mindful of the 

 usual expert advice to begin beekeep- 

 ing in a small way, he bought 800 

 colonies to start with. In the Febru- 

 ary. 1916, issue of this journal is the 

 s'ory of the way he sold his first car 

 of honey. 



Most everybody in Texas knows 

 LeStourgeon as a booster for bee- 

 keeping. Those who are better ac- 

 quainted with him know that he is 

 worth cultivating for a variety of 

 reasons. He can tell you a lot of 

 Texas history and can entertain his 

 friends by the hour with tales of the 

 old missions and the pioneers of the 

 southwest. Every beekeeper who 

 finds himself in San Antonio should 

 be sure to visit the headquarters of 

 the Texas Honey Producers' Associa- 

 tion and get acquainted with the 

 manager. 



